


Breathe In, Breathe Out

by Kira_Dattei



Series: The Old Guard Whumptober 2020 [13]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Developing Friendships, Established Relationship, Immortal Found Family, M/M, Post-Canon, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27538936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kira_Dattei/pseuds/Kira_Dattei
Summary: It isn’t always about killing targets. Sometimes they are just trying to help people as they come across them.Prompt: Oxygen Mask
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: The Old Guard Whumptober 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994617
Comments: 4
Kudos: 80





	Breathe In, Breathe Out

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a whump writer so I can't promise a huge amount of whump in all of these. I just picked the prompt from each day that actually sparked an idea and ran with it.  
> I'm mostly using these as a way to get a feel for the characters and I simply love the relationships given in canon and wanted to explore them.  
> Joe is the lucky whumpee for most of these because I just love him.
> 
> These are all going to be one-shots and they are as connected as you want them to be so you’re good to just read one and not worry about missing anything.

Joe handed off the woman he was carrying to Nicky and Nile. The fire was spreading through the building quickly now and it was becoming less likely that he would find anyone else alive but he still had to check. He’d heard at least three more people crying out when he’d gotten the woman from her apartment.

“Joe, we should get out ourselves. Fire trucks are already here,” Nicky said as he shifted the woman into Nile’s grip and she was able to take her whole weight and move her the rest of the way toward the exit.

They had each taken a floor with Joe ending up on the top floor. He’d pretty much gotten used to the burn in his lungs from breathing in so much smoke but his healing was keeping up with the damage being done so he wasn’t worried. And when he’d breathed in all sorts of gas over the decades since they had been invented, smoke was barely a challenge anymore.

“I heard a few more when I grabbed her. The top floor isn’t in too bad of shape right now. If a firefighter comes across me, it won’t be too weird that I’m still up and moving,” he replied.

Nicky nodded, knowing that if Joe thought it was a bad idea, he would have left. He had a reckless streak but he wasn’t stupid. Joe knew that him taking an unnecessary risk was asking for unwanted attention. Them helping out in this way, this “Good Samaritan” sort of helping tended to have more risk of gaining attention anyway and so they worked harder to keep a low profile. Joe headed back up the stairs, hearing Nicky follow along after a moment, which meant Nile had been fine to finish getting that woman out on her own.

He made it back up to the fifth floor quickly and while it was still mostly clear of fire, the smoke was, of course, worse and what he’d seen of the fourth floor had revealed there wasn’t much time before this floor would be too dangerous for anyone they tried to get out.

He and Nicky crouched low as they moved down the hall, saving their lungs unnecessary damage. He pointed to the door he knew he’d heard someone in earlier and then pointed two doors down on the opposite side of the hall to indicate where he would be and Nicky nodded, reaching out to take and squeeze Joe’s hand briefly before he headed for the first door.

Joe headed down the hall and tried the door and then had to break it down when he found it locked. He searched through the apartment quickly, practiced as he was at clearing a room. He called out every time he passed into a different room until he heard commotion in a bedroom at the back of the apartment. He headed right for that door and pushed it open, seeing a teenage boy and a younger girl curled up on the far side of the room, obviously too afraid to try and move.

He crossed the room and kneeled down in front of the two, putting on his kindest expression as he held out his hand. “I know you’re afraid but we need to get out of here right now.” The teen looked up at him and looked like he wanted to move but was still frozen. So Joe moved closer and reached out and rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Hold onto her and I’ll help you.” He knew people tended to respond best to direct instructions when they were frozen like this.

He slid his hand down to the teen’s bicep and took a more secure hold so he could help pull him to his feet. As soon as he was up and standing closer, Joe used his other hand to pull the teen’s shirt up to cover his nose and mouth and then did the same for the girl. “Keep low.”

He stayed a step ahead while keeping a secure hold on the teen’s arm, angled so that he could also feel the girl held in the boy’s arms. He reached the hall easily enough and checked the hall to make sure their way to the closer staircase was still clear.

He’d just reached the door to the staircase when he heard movement on the other side just before Nicky stepped into view. He was alone and Joe knew he couldn’t have made it down and back in the time Joe had been getting the pair of kids so Nicky hadn’t found anyone alive.

“We need to hurry. The stairs are almost too dangerous,” Nicky said, nodding over Joe’s shoulder toward the two he was leading. Nicky stepped a bit closer and placed his hand on the girl’s back but spoke to the teen. “Let me take her. I’ll get her safely out of here. You need to be able to pay attention to what you’re doing.”

The teen’s head was already shaking. “No, I need to protect her!” he yelled, Joe hearing the panic still there.

Joe squeezed at his arm. “You have. And handing her over to Nicky here will be protecting her. Nicky is the best person I know for helping people. She’ll be just fine with him and I’ll make sure you get out of here so you can take her back as soon as we’re outside. But we need to move now.”

He hesitated another few seconds before he leaned forward a bit and Nicky took that as the indication to take the girl, who went easily, immediately wrapping her arms around Nicky’s neck. Nicky nodded to Joe briefly before he started down the stairs. Joe followed behind, keeping his hold on the boy as he went, testing each step to make sure it held under the growing heat and spreading flames.

When they reached the second floor, Nicky already rounding the last turn of the stairs to the bottom floor and heading toward the exit, Joe heard the groans of the building failing as more of it was destroyed. He was distracted by the sound, having been in quite a few buildings as they collapsed over his life and wanting to make sure he was ready to deal with that and protect the teen he was guiding out. The distraction meant that he missed the weakness of one of the steps and his foot fell through, Joe immediately feeling a rush of heat along his leg.

He hadn’t noticed how much the fire had started spreading up the staircase from the level below. They were about to be overtaken here. It wasn’t that big of a deal to him, long, painful death aside, but he wasn’t going to watch someone so young die, not when he could still do something about it.

He pulled his foot out of the hole and stood upright, checking on the teen, who was looking at him with terrified eyes and so he gave him a grin. “That could have been bad. Let’s not do it again.” He let the smile fall and his expression became serious. “But we really need to hurry now or we’ll lose all our good stairs. I don’t want to us to skip a flight unless we absolutely have to.”

He probably shouldn’t have said that but it had just slipped out. Ignoring it regardless, he started down the stairs again, now walking a bit closer to the wall where it should be a bit more stable.

They made it to the landing where the stairs changed direction one last time when the fire surged up to cut off their path, Joe pulling the boy back a few steps and tucking him in protectively to Joe’s body.

So much for not needing to skip a flight.

He was just beginning to move toward the railing so he could convince the teen to climb to the outside of the banister and be ready to drop down to the ground floor below them and do it in a way where Joe would be taking the impact, which was close enough that he would likely avoid even a minor injury to heal up. He knew how to take an impact even with the additional weight. The concern would be the kid panicking and affecting his landing enough that he landed wrong.

“We’re going to need to drop down to the floor or we aren’t getting out of here,” he stated simply. The boy had proven to respond to direction and had trusted Joe so far. “We do that and you’re back with your sister.” He’d assumed she was his sister and the boy didn’t correct him otherwise. “Now, just follow me to the outside of the railing and we’ll drop together and I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt.”

Joe was just reaching for the railing when he heard heavy steps from the floor below them just before he saw three firefighters jog into view and looked up to him. He let out a sigh of relief as they would make things so much easier. He waved down to them briefly before he tugged the teen closer and then lifted him up and over the railing before he could give any protest. The teen realized what he was doing and turned and clamped both hands onto Joe’s arm.

Joe let out a brief sigh before he leaned in close to the boy’s ear and said in the same authoritative voice he’d been using all along. “This is better. Those guys will be able to catch you and get you out no problem. Your sister is waiting out there and they’ll get you out to her. Hey, you’ve already done the hard part and are on the other side of the railing. I’ll make sure you’ll go right to them and then you’ll be out of here in no time. Now, you can keep hold of me while you step off the ledge but when I let you go, it means they’re where they need to be and you need to let me go. Don’t let me down now.”

He started extending his arms out, not giving the teen a chance to really object and eventually, he was bending his legs and letting one foot drop off the ledge and then when he was low enough he completely let both legs drop and Joe took all his weight. The teen wasn’t too heavy though and he was braced against the railing so it wasn’t a strain. Joe watched as the firefighters moved right below the teen’s legs, close enough that their hands were able to just barely brush against his feet. When the third moved in so he would be able to catch the teen’s back, Joe squeezed at the teen’s forearms briefly before quickly releasing him, the boy letting go without really thinking about it and he fell smoothly into the waiting arms of the firefighters, two of them keeping hold of him to carry him toward the door.

Joe moved quickly to get himself to the outside of the railing and was about to drop down when the fire suddenly surged toward him and he felt the burn along his face and arms. He knew he’d been burned and had to really focus to not fall at the flash of searing pain. Instead he made sure his clothes weren’t burning and then dropped down as intended, catching himself on the bottom of the railing to mean he wasn’t dropping as far and then released and landed on the ground floor, using his impact to flow into a forward roll and then stood even as the remaining firefighter grabbed him and started running him out of the building, covering his head from the raging fire.

He was led out past the bustle of people, a blanket being thrown over his shoulders on his way toward the ambulance. He let them do that much, wanting to at least see the boy and girl outside and being seen to before disappearing along with Nicky and Nile.

He noticed Nicky was already moving up toward him, coming in to the side the firefighter wasn’t on and he urged the man away, declaring that he’d see him to the ambulance and the firefighter listened, turning to head back easily enough.

“You look a bit more singed than when I left you,” Nicky noted. At least he didn’t seem upset.

“Yeah, got hit right at the end there. It’s already healed,” Joe noted honestly.

Joe looked over toward the ambulances and tried finding the ones he was most interested in seeing, Nicky pointing them out after realizing what Joe was doing. They were both just fine, sitting next to each other holding hands as the paramedics treated them, oxygen masks secured over their nose and mouth. Joe gave a smile, happy that they’d succeeded in helping someone and they’d been able to keep the promises they made while getting them out.

Content that their work was done there, Joe shrugged off the blanket and stood upright, the two of them finding their way to where the line of onlookers was the thinnest and left easily, meeting up with Nile just beyond the gathering crowd.

They’d barely made it ten feet when Nile suddenly burst into laughter. Joe gave her a curious look and she struggled to calm down enough to explain herself.

“Have you seen yourself?” she asked and Joe frowned. He was pretty sure what she was talking about and had been trying to ignore it.

“No, I don’t tend to carry a vanity mirror around with me everywhere,” he replied shortly, not liking how Nicky was also avoiding looking toward him, meaning he didn’t want Joe to see him be amused as well.

Nile was still struggling against laughter. “I mean, I guess you look alright with shorter hair but I really think you should even it out.”

Joe let out a groan and brought his hand to feel around the left side of his head, letting out a long string of profanity, transitioning seamlessly between twelve languages as he realized that he would need to cut his hair down to just more than a buzz cut and shave his beard. His hair hadn’t been that short in decades for a reason. Even as passive as he was about how his hair was styled, he really didn’t like his hair being that short and being without a beard just felt weird to him.

Nile was laughing again and Nicky was walking ahead of them, continuing to make sure Joe didn’t see his amusement regardless that he knew it was there.

“Nile, can I please use your hoodie? I need the hood or I’d ask for Nicky’s jacket, though I’m sure he wouldn’t give it to me right now.” He gave his love a flat look which Nicky ignored. “I can’t be walking down the street with half my hair singed off.”

“Where’s your baseball cap?” Nile asked teasingly, still snickering and not moving to take off her hoodie.

Joe was going to burn her dinner if she kept this up.

“Why would I bring my cap when we were spending the day at galleries? I have much better etiquette than that. Now can I please borrow your hoodie?”

“I’m sure with fashion as it is in this modern time, you can claim it is on purpose,” Nicky said over his shoulder, setting Nile off in another round of laughter though at least now she was unzipping her hoodie so Joe saw that as progress.

As she handed it off to Joe she asked Nicky, “So how long does his hair have to get for him to like it again? Just want a timeline for how long this is teasing material.”

Joe put on the hoodie, zipped it all the way up, and pulled the hood up over his head, pulling it as far forward as he could. No, he wouldn’t be burning her dinner. He’d just add enough extra spices to make her not happy with it. Much more subtle and she might not even notice there was something off. He could do that for months before someone else took a bite of her food and called him out on it.

Getting back at Nicky would be much more complicated to figure out.

And it would definitely be necessary when Nicky answered Nile with an amused, “At least a month. He despises his hair being that short. And the last time he had to cut it like that, Andy shaved him twice more while he slept and he just hated it even more.”

Right now Joe was pretty sure he just hated that he still thought helping those two kids was worth the teasing he was going to be dealing with for the next month. At least. He didn’t trust Andy not to repeat that little joke just to extend the time they could tease him.

Nicky slowed down to walk next to Joe before he pushed back the hood from Joe’s cheek and dropped a quick kiss on where his beard had been burned off.

“You are no less beautiful, my love,” he whispered to Joe and Joe couldn’t help but give his Nicolo a warm smile.

And then Nicky went right back to talking with Nile about how best to tease him for the foreseeable future.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked it.


End file.
